Many congratulations to all our exceptional colleagues who were honoured as winners at the Bernicia Excellence Awards 2023.
Winners were presented with their trophies and prizes at a celebration event held at the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle, celebrating the very best of Bernicia.
The excellence awards encompassed the whole of Bernicia Group – the housing association and the companies within our commercial arm – that’s block management specialist Kingston, award-winning estate agent Living Spaces and estate management specialist Open Spaces.
Attended by around 80 colleagues, the event showcased the work of our brilliant people and the exceptional effort of those for who going the extra mile for tenants and colleagues is all in a day’s work.
Here’s our scroll of honour for the winners of the Bernicia Excellence Awards 2023 in the words of their colleagues who nominated them:
Unsung Hero: Gail Yearman, Cleaner
Gail is such a hard-working colleague, although she is always busy, she is lovely to speak to. She often goes above and beyond without being asked. She does a fantastic job keeping our offices clean. Customer service is clearly one of her priorities and we’re very lucky to have her.
Inspirational Colleague: Aurore Nzafio, Communications Officer
Aurore has significantly supported the People agenda by helping to shape and effectively communicate colleague wellbeing and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives. She is a delight to work with. Aurore’s input, proactiveness and positive approach is inspiring, she has made such a positive impact and no request is a problem despite a busy workload.
Excellent Newcomer: Shannon Etherington, Accounts Assistant (Kingston)
Shannon has already become an integral part of the corporate finance team despite only joining us six months ago. She is a very quick learner which has allowed her to excel in her role, taking on many tasks in such a short space of time. Shannon has settled into the finance team and Kingston extremely well and is valued and well respected amongst her peers.
Apprentice/Trainee of the Year: Justin White, Business Admin Apprentice
Justin joined the Compliance Team as a supported intern visiting one day a week alongside his college tutor, building this up over time to where he is now with us five days a week with no individual tutor/support. He has autism and ADHD, over the course of the last 12 months he has stuck to his learner’s agreement, grown in confidence and learned invaluable life skills. He has overcome so many personal challenges and brings a smile to so many faces.
Bright Ideas: Theresa Stapleton, Customer Contact Advisor
Theresa has only been in the business for just over a year, in that time she has become a role model contact centre agent. Theresa has been proactive in upskilling herself and her colleagues, making suggestions about how we can improve to the benefit of customers and colleagues.
Customer Service Excellence Meg Smith, Senior Assistant Property Manager (Kingston)
Meg is everyone’s go to. She has a wealth of knowledge and expertise that she is always willing to share. Clients love her, colleagues value her opinion, and she manages to keep everyone happy without even looking flustered. She is always helping clients and colleagues in any way that she can and strives to give the best service possible.
Working Together Award: PMC Gas team
The gas team work extremely hard to ensure they meet the demanding expectations of compliance and reactive repairs. They work well supporting each other and external teams. They are committed to ensuring our tenants are safe in their homes. They work very hard, often under extreme pressure.
Outstanding Team: Bernicia Living
The team has created a marketing strategy and modernised wording around the service and profession. The team has found and embraced changes to their services and continue to deliver valuable, excellent services to their residents.
John Johnston, Bernicia Chief Executive, said: “The importance of these awards is underlined by the fact that the winners are nominated by their colleagues that they work with every day.
“Our colleagues are the foundation our success at Bernicia is built upon.”
Bernicia has become the first organisation outside the public sector to sign a Northumberland County Council pledge to help young people leaving care achieve their ambitions. The council’s Care Leaver Covenant 2023+ renews the local authority’s promise to provide care-experienced young people aged 16…
As the years unfold, a transformation occurs — not just in ourselves but also in the homes we choose to inhabit. For many people, efficiency becomes important, comfort reigns supreme, and simplicity is the new sophistication. An open-plan living apartment can be less a compromise and more a good choice for a…
We would love your feedback. Have you found the information helpful on this page?
We’re sorry that you didn’t find this helpful. Please help us improve by filling out the below box.
Thank you for the positive feedback!
